Study of regional temperature and thermohydrological effects of an underground repository for nuclear wastes in hard rock
- 1 October 1979
- report
- Published by Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
Abstract
Heat released by the radioactive decay of nuclear wastes in an underground repository causes a long-term thermal disturbance in the surrounding rock mass. The nature of this disturbance for a planar repository 3000 m in diameter at a depth of 500 m below surface is investigated for various waste forms. The effects of changes in the density and viscosity of groundwater caused by the temperature changes on the flow through a simple model of a vertical fracture connected to a horizontal fracture in a rock mass are evaluated. It is concluded that different waste forms and time periods before burial have significant effects on the thermal disturbance and that buoyant groundwater flow is a function of both the vertical and horizontal fracture transmissivities, as well as the changes in temperature. Loaded initially with a power density of 10 W/m/sup 2/ of spent fuel assemblies 10 years after discharge from a reactor, the maximum increase in temperature of the repository in granite is about 50/sup 0/C and the epicentral thermal gradient about 70/sup 0/C/km. 30 figures, 4 tables.Keywords
This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: